POULTRT-CRAFT. 167 



the nesting material is most convenient for examining the eggs, if necessary, 

 when the hen is on the nest, and is about the only style of handy nest in which 

 a hen can be confined) . If only two, four, or six hens are set in the same 

 apartment, open nests may be used though even for that small number, the 

 closed nest is safer and surer ; but where many hens are set together nests 

 that can be closed are indispensable. The nest boxes may be with or without 

 bottoms. They should be placed with backs to the Avails, all facing the center 

 of the pen. If with board bottoms, a few inches of earth should be put in 

 each nest, slightly hollowed, and the corners of the nest filled up high (that 

 if egg's are accidentally pushed toward them there may be no depression into 

 which they can slip, remain and get cold), before the nest material proper is 

 put in. Bottomless nests are more convenient, and more easily kept clean. 

 They are, however, hardly suitable to use on a board floor. On an earth 

 floor the bottomless nest is by all odds the best. The floor where the nest is 

 to go should be raked smooth, and after the nest is in place the earth under it 

 should be formed and firmed as described for the other nests. 



For nesting material, straw, hay, or excelsior may be used. Very long: 

 coarse hay or straw is not suitable. Soft hay or straw of medium leagth is* 

 better than cut stuff ; the nest made of it keeps its shape better. Just 

 enough material should be used to make a good firm mat over the earth f 

 Unless there is to be a period of probation, on china eggs, for the hens, each 

 nest should be shaped and well Jlrmed with the hand before eggs are placed 

 in it ; or the hen in trying to shape the nest with eggs in it will break some of 

 them. It is a good plan to thoroughly dust the nest with insect powder before 

 placing the hen on it. If this is done, and the hens were quite free from lice, 

 they need not be powdered again for eleven or twelve days. 



235. Setting the Hens. It is a good plan to have regular days once 

 a week is often enough for setting hens, and to set as many as possible each 

 time, that if there are many infertile eggs the sittings may be doubled up, and 

 that the broods hatched may be equally distributed to just as many hens as are 

 needed to take care of them. If open nests are used the hens are often given 

 a few days probation on nest eggs, before being trusted with the eggs which 

 they are to incubate. If closed nests are used, such probation is unnecessary, 

 and a distinct gain of several days for each hen is made. (Those who use the 

 open nests find it necessary to close in some hens at first, using a board or box 

 for that purpose. The movable cover is handier, though used only for a 

 few days) . 



The hens should be moved at night, carried gently, one or two at a time. 

 One who is about the poultry houses much in the daytime can generally do 

 such work without a light much more quickly and with less annoyance to the 

 hens, than if a lantern is carried. If a light must be used, and any of the 

 hens are at all shy, it is best to place the lantern where it will throw just 



